The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City lying at the center of Beijing used to be the imperial palace of 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It's 960 meters long and 750 meters wide covering a floor space of 720,000 square meters with 9,999 buildings - the world largest palace. Construction of the palace complex started in 1407 and was completed 14 years later in 1420. It was said that a million workers including 100,000 artisans were driven into the long-term hard labor. Huge amount of timbers and other materials were all freighted from faraway provinces.

The rectangular city is encircled in a 52-meter-wide, 6-meter-deep moat and a 10-meter-high city wall with four corner towers overlooking the city inside and outside. Since yellow is the symbol of the royal family, it is the dominant color in the Forbidden City . decorations in the palace are painted yellow. Even the Roofs are built with yellow glazed tiles;

Generally, it was divided into two parts, the northern half, the Outer Court where emperors executed their supreme power over the nation and the southern half, the Inner Court where they lived with their royal family.

Until 1924 when the last emperor Puyi in China was driven out of the Inner Court , 14 emperors of the Ming dynasty and 10 emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. It is now listed by the UN as World Cultural Heritage in 1987.

Nowadays, it is open to tourists home and abroad. Splendid paintings on the royal architectures, grand and deluxe halls, and surprisingly magnificent treasures will certainly satisfy "modern civilians".

Minibus Tour

MT-3 Royal Culture Experience Tour